'Chuck Schumer Will Vote for the Iran Deal'

Yesh Atid party chairman Yair Lapid said Thursday that he believes Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) will vote in favor of the Iran deal.

“I've heard all of the analyses that said wait we don't know how Chuck Schumer – who is the most influential Democratic senator today – will vote. I sat with him less than a month ago; we spoke about this. I looked him in the eyes; he didn't say it outright, [but] I am telling you, he'll vote for the deal. All these discussions are inventions... There will be a Senate decision not to remove sanctions, there will be a presidential veto and there won't be 67 votes to override the veto.”

Lapid also said that the rumors about the Zionist Union possibly joining the Coalition are being purposely spread by Likud, in order to cause Yisrael Beytenu Chairman Avigdor Liberman to join the Coalition himself.

"I imagine that they hope it will cause Liberman to feel nervous and enter the Coalition,” Lapid conjectured.

But “Liberman doesn't get nervous so easily,” he added.

Lapid repeated his contention that the signing of the deal with Iran is a personal failure of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, and that “as long as he is the prime minister of Israel – we have no way of rehabilitating our relations with the world.”

He added, however, that this criticism is only intended for internal consumption. When he speaks to foreign audiences, Lapid vowed, he is careful not to attack the prime minister.